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Titus 3:9-15 - Avoiding Division, Bearing Fruit

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Paul has just called good works “good and profitable to men” (Titus 3:1-8). One sentence later, he calls religious disputes “unprofitable and useless.” That contrast governs the close of the letter. The Church has limited attention, time, and strength. It can spend them on controversies that harden people into factions, or it can use them to correct patiently, support the Gospel’s servants, and meet urgent needs. Paul does not choose practical service instead of truth. He shows what the letter’s opening joins together, truth and godliness, when grace has renewed a people: peace without indifference, discipline without revenge, and good works that reach someone before the need becomes a crisis.

Turn Away from Barren Controversy (Titus 3:9)

9 But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

Paul does not forbid serious doctrine, careful interpretation, or the defense of apostolic truth. Titus has been commanded to hold fast the faithful word, teach sound doctrine, and rebuke teaching that harms households. Verse 9 addresses a different kind of speech. Its subjects may sound religious and learned, yet its fruit is contention. The decisive words come at the end: these disputes are “unprofitable and useless.” They consume the Church’s strength without producing repentance, clearer obedience, reconciliation, or mercy.

The command “avoid” translates περιΐστασο (periistaso), turning away or keeping clear. Paul calls the controversies ἀνωφελεῖς (anōpheleis), unprofitable, and μάταιοι (mataioi), empty or futile.1 Titus is not asked to win one more round. He is asked to refuse the whole barren pattern. There are arguments whose spiritual danger lies partly in their power to keep us returning: replaying the exchange, searching for allies, sharpening the next answer, and neglecting the person or duty God has actually placed before us.

This can happen in a parish meeting, a family conversation, or an online thread. A dispute may begin with a real question and then become a way to display knowledge, secure a faction, or avoid repentance. Paul’s test is stricter than whether the topic matters. What is this conversation doing to the people in it? Sound teaching can correct error and still bear peace, humility, and holiness. Barren controversy leaves the participants more suspicious, more self-important, and less ready to pray or serve.

“Genealogies” and “strivings about the law” condemn the factional misuse of religious learning, not Jewish people or the Old Testament. The problem is knowledge bent toward rivalry rather than godliness.

The usefulness contrast

Verse 9 calls disputes unprofitable; verse 14 warns the Church not to become unfruitful. The passage therefore moves from words that yield nothing to works that meet “urgent needs.” This does not reduce truth to whatever seems efficient. Paul has defended sound doctrine throughout Titus. He now insists that truth should make the Church capable of communion, mission, and mercy. Correct doctrine that is used to feed pride contradicts the godliness it is meant to form.

Gems from the Fathers 💎: Words spent wisely

St John Chrysostom reads this as a question of squandered spiritual energy. He warns against “a superfluity of words” at the expense of prayer, thanksgiving, and needed instruction.2 Yet he also insists that a teacher must intervene when others are being harmed. Turning from barren combat does not mean leaving the flock undefended. The distinction is between speech that protects a neighbor and speech that merely prolongs the speaker’s importance.

Admonish Before Refusing Division (Titus 3:10-11)

10 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

Paul builds patience into the command: “after the first and second admonition.” Rejection is not the first response to disagreement. The person receives warning and instruction, with a real opportunity to turn. Paul’s repeated admonition follows the patient road of the Lord’s teaching in Matthew 18:15-17: first approach the brother alone, then with one or two others, then bring the matter to the Church. Correction seeks to regain a brother before it draws a final boundary.

The adjective translated “divisive” is αἱρετικόν (hairetikon). The word later became closely associated with formal heresy, but here the immediate emphasis is a factious person who continues dividing the community after admonition.3 Honest questions and ordinary disagreement are not persistent faction-making. A servant’s irritation is not evidence of another person’s rebellion.

Admonition, νουθεσία (nouthesia), is instruction or warning meant to bring the danger before the person’s mind. Persistence after two admonitions leads to refusal, παραιτοῦ (paraitou). The aim is the protection of communion and of people being harmed. The Church corrects as a community that remembers it too was deceived and was saved according to mercy (Titus 3:1-8); remembered mercy keeps the boundary from becoming contempt.

Verse 11 explains why the final boundary may become necessary. “Warped” translates ἐξέστραπται (exestraptai), a form of ἐκστρέφω (ekstrephō), describing a turning aside whose effect remains; αὐτοκατάκριτος (autokatakritos) means self-condemned.4 The person’s continued conduct after correction discloses the judgment. Paul does not rest the decision on rumor, personality conflict, or a moment of impatience.

Anyone dealing with abuse, coercion, or immediate danger should not treat “first and second admonition” as a requirement to remain exposed to harm; proper safeguarding and civil responsibilities still apply.

Gems from the Fathers 💎: Correction received or refused

St John Chrysostom explains that the person can no longer plead “no one admonished him.”5 The warning has been heard, and the divisive work continues. His reading preserves both parts of Paul’s command: the Church owes the person real correction, and it owes the community protection when correction is refused. A boundary need not deny hope for salvation. It refuses to make everyone else bear the cost of continuing division.

Send Coworkers So That Nothing Is Lacking (Titus 3:12-13)

12 When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing.

The letter now turns from division to coordination. Artemas or Tychicus will relieve Titus. Titus is to join Paul at Nicopolis. Zenas and Apollos must be sent forward with what they need. These names and travel plans are not scraps left after the theology. They reveal the Church as a living network of entrusted service. Leaders are replaceable, coworkers move between communities, winter affects planning, and mission depends on concrete provision.

Titus has been serving in Crete since Paul left him there to set unfinished matters in order and appoint elders in every city. His summons therefore does not mean that the churches are abandoned; another trusted coworker is to come. Responsibility is handed on rather than possessed. Mature ministry prepares relief, receives further formation, and goes where the apostolic work requires.

Several cities bore the name Nicopolis. St John Chrysostom took it to be “a city of Thrace”; later interpreters commonly identify it with Nicopolis in Epirus, near modern Preveza, founded by Octavian after Actium.6 The modest phrase “I have decided to spend the winter there” shows disciplined planning around season and place without revealing Paul’s entire itinerary.

Tychicus is a tested coworker, not merely an available replacement. Acts 20:4 places him among Paul’s traveling companions from Asia; Ephesians 6:21-22 presents him as a faithful minister sent to bring news and comfort, and 2 Timothy 4:12 records his dispatch to Ephesus. The person who may relieve Titus already belongs to a history of trusted service. Handing over responsibility becomes easier when a leader remembers that the Church’s faithfulness does not begin or end with him.

Apollos is already known from Acts as an Alexandrian Jew who was eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, yet received fuller instruction from Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:24-28). Learning and teachability belong together in him. Paul describes their shared labor simply: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Titus is to help this fellow laborer continue the work, not build a competing circle around himself.

Zenas is called νομικός (nomikos), a legal expert. St John Chrysostom reads him as “one versed in the laws of the Jews”; the term also had secular legal uses.7 What Paul makes certain is the Church’s duty: these coworkers are to be helped on their way so that they lack nothing.

The verb πρόπεμψον (propempson) means sending someone forward, here with help for the journey. Paul strengthens it with the purpose clause, “that they may lack nothing.”8 Christian hospitality is therefore more than a warm farewell. Someone must ask what the mission actually requires: food, lodging, travel funds, introductions, safety, rest, or another pair of hands. Love becomes foresight.

There is also a quiet contrast in the repeated νομικ- root. Paul rejects μάχας νομικάς, quarrels about the law, in verse 9 and commands support for Ζηνᾶν τὸν νομικόν, Zenas the legal expert, in verse 13.9 The juxtaposition makes a useful distinction: Paul is not hostile to learning or expertise. He is hostile to expertise turned into barren combat. Knowledge becomes fruitful when it serves the Gospel and the people entrusted to the Church.

Gems from the Fathers 💎: Formation for entrusted service

St John Chrysostom reads the summons to Paul as further formation for Titus, “but to discipline him the more for it,” not withdrawal from his entrusted work.10 He distinguishes Zenas and Apollos from those assigned churches: they belong to Paul’s companions in mission. Travel, provision, and relief are not distractions from pastoral care. They are how the Church shares that care without making any one servant its owner.

Learn Good Works for Urgent Needs (Titus 3:14-15)

14 And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. 15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.

The phrase “our people also” widens the command beyond Titus and the named travelers. The whole community must learn to bear the practical weight of mission and mercy. Good works are not left to a few naturally generous people, clergy, or organized ministries. Paul treats them as a discipline the Church must learn.

The verb behind “maintain,” προΐστασθαι (proistasthai), here means to take responsibility for or devote oneself to good works. Paul repeats the verb from Titus 3:8: what Titus must keep teaching, the people must learn to practice. “Urgent needs” translates ἀναγκαίας χρείας (anankaias chreias), necessary or pressing needs. The final warning is ἄκαρποι (akarpoi), unfruitful.11 The command is more exact than “be kind.” Believers are to develop sustained responsibility for needs that cannot simply wait.

This is the positive answer to verse 9. Barren disputes are unprofitable; trained mercy is fruitful. One consumes attention while leaving people unchanged. The other notices what is necessary and acts. Yet Paul’s fruitfulness is not productivity culture. He is not measuring the Church by busyness, output, or institutional scale. The fruit is ecclesial and personal: coworkers lack nothing, afflicted people receive help, communion is protected, love becomes visible, and grace reaches ordinary life.

Gems from the Fathers 💎: The giver’s fruit

St John Chrysostom’s comments on Titus 3:8-9 refuse to reduce good works to giving money. He includes advocacy, protection, care for widows and orphans, and refuge for the afflicted. Instead of waiting to be approached, believers should “seek out those who need their assistance.”12 Fruitful mercy develops eyes. It notices the exhausted caregiver, the family quietly falling behind, the servant carrying ministry costs alone, the newcomer without relationships, and the person too ashamed to ask.

On verse 14 itself, Chrysostom sees Paul as “more anxious for them than for those who are to receive their kindnesses.”13 The travelers might receive help elsewhere, but the congregation would lose the fruit of giving. Mercy does more than move resources. It loosens the giver’s grip on possessions and binds the members of Christ to one another. We need the neighbor we are tempted to leave for someone else to help.

The letter closes with love “in the faith” and grace “with you all.” Grace is not a decorative ending. It is the source of the life Paul has required. Christ gave Himself to redeem and purify a people zealous for good works; God saved according to mercy through washing and renewal by the Holy Spirit. The people who now refuse barren quarrels, protect communion, supply coworkers, and meet urgent needs are living from that gift. Their works do not purchase grace. Grace makes them fruitful.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

On Kiahk 18 the Coptic Church keeps “The Commemoration of the Relocation of the Relics of St. Titus to Constantinople.” When the commemoration’s readings are appointed, as on December 28, 2027, the Pauline Epistle is Colossians 4:2-18. There Paul calls Tychicus “a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord” (4:7). The other Liturgy readings are 1 Peter 3:15-22, Acts 1:1-14, Psalm 96:2-3 (LXX 95:2-3), and Luke 10:1-20, where the Lord commands provision for those He sends (10:7).14 The pairing helps us hear the names at the end of Titus as living bonds of service: the Church remembers Titus while hearing of the coworker Paul might send to him. Different calendar precedence can bring different readings; Kiahk 18 falls on the Third Sunday of Kiahk in 2026.

Apollos also enters the Church’s hearing at the Theophany. The Acts reading, Acts 18:24-19:6, begins with the Alexandrian teacher receiving fuller instruction and ends with the Holy Spirit coming upon the baptized. Beside it the Church reads Titus 2:11-3:7, 1 John 5:5-21, Psalm 118:26, 28 (LXX 117:26, 28), and John 1:18-34.15 The man Titus must help on his journey is thus heard within the feast’s proclamation of Christ and the Spirit’s gift. His learning serves a mission larger than himself. See Titus 2:11-15, The Grace That Appeared and the Blessed Hope.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

Notice when controversy has become a passion. A serious subject can become fuel for pride, agitation, or the pleasure of belonging to the correct faction. Watch for the signs Paul exposes: replaying disputes, collecting opponents, neglecting prayer, and becoming less merciful. Turn away from the barren exchange. Use the recovered time to learn, pray, give thanks, reconcile, or serve someone whose need is real.

Receive correction before self-defense hardens into division. The divisive person in verses 10-11 is not condemned for asking a question but for persisting after admonition. When a trusted spiritual father, mature believer, spouse, or coworker names a pattern that is harming communion, resist the immediate work of building your case. Ask what fruit your conduct is producing. Confess what is true, seek clarification where needed, and take one visible step toward repair.

Set boundaries without hatred. Some readers avoid necessary discipline because they fear being unmerciful; others reach for exclusion because they want relief or control. Paul gives a steadier path: real admonition, time to repent, accountable judgment, and protection when harmful factional conduct persists. Pray for the person’s salvation while refusing to let continuing harm govern the community.

Let hospitality become foresight. The words “that they may lack nothing” ask more than whether we feel supportive. Think of one person carrying the work of the Gospel, family care, or hidden service. Ask what would remove a practical burden this week. A ride, a meal, childcare, lodging, an introduction, reimbursement, or a few hours of competent help can become part of the Church’s mission.

Learn to see urgent needs before they are announced. Shame, exhaustion, and fear often keep people from asking. Fruitful mercy pays attention without becoming intrusive. Bring one neglected need into prayer, consult the right person, and act within your responsibility. Christ’s grace frees us from both religious noise and passive goodwill, forming a people whose love becomes useful.

Footnotes

  1. Titus 3:9 Greek interlinear, with lexical pages for περιΐστημι, ἀνωφελής, and μάταιος. ↩

  2. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:9, NPNF1 13, New Advent. ↩

  3. Titus 3:10 Greek interlinear, with lexical pages for αἱρετικός, νουθεσία, and παραιτέομαι. ↩

  4. Titus 3:11 Greek interlinear, with lexical pages for ἐκστρέφω and αὐτοκατάκριτος. ↩

  5. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:10-11, NPNF1 13, New Advent. ↩

  6. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:12, New Advent; Smith’s and Easton’s Bible Dictionaries, “Nicopolis”. ↩

  7. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:13, New Advent; Bible Hub, νομικός and Titus 3:13 interlinear. ↩

  8. Titus 3:13 Greek interlinear, with lexical pages for προπέμπω and λείπω. ↩

  9. Bible Hub, Titus 3:9 and Titus 3:13 Greek interlinear texts. ↩

  10. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:12-13, NPNF1 13, New Advent. ↩

  11. Titus 3:8 and Titus 3:14 Greek interlinear texts, with lexical pages for προΐστημι, χρεία, and ἄκαρπος. ↩

  12. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:8-9, NPNF1 13, New Advent. ↩

  13. St John Chrysostom, Homily VI on Titus, on Titus 3:14, NPNF1 13, New Advent. ↩

  14. Coptic Synaxarium, Kiahk 18, “The Commemoration of the Relocation of the Relics of St. Titus to Constantinople” (Coptic Reader); Coptic Katameros, Kiahk 18, Liturgy, Pauline Colossians 4:2-18; Catholic 1 Peter 3:15-22; Acts 1:1-14; Psalm 96:2-3 (LXX 95:2-3); Gospel Luke 10:1-20 (December 28, 2027). ↩

  15. Coptic Katameros, Theophany, Toba 11, Liturgy, Acts 18:24-19:6; Pauline Titus 2:11-3:7; Catholic 1 John 5:5-21; Psalm 118:26, 28 (LXX 117:26, 28); Gospel John 1:18-34 (January 19, 2026). ↩

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